In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power.

Nathaniel Hawthorne used her as a model for Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter her detractors referred to her as 'the instrument of Satan,' a witch, 'more bold than a man,' and Jezebel-the ancient queen who, on account of her tremendous political power, was 'the most evil woman' in the Bible. American Jezebel : the uncommon life of Anne Hutchinson, the woman who defied the Puritans.

Charged with heresy and sedition, she defended herself brilliantly, but the court, faced with a perceived threat to public order, banished her for behaving in a manner 'not comely for sex.' The seeds of the American struggle for women's and human rights can be found in her courageous story. Her intent is to tell the story of Anne Hutchinson’s life and clear her name as a woman who was accused of being a heretic in colonial America. Her unconventional ideas attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. In her book, American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans, Eve LaPlante explores parts of the life of Anne Hutchinson. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. Eve LaPlante, a sixth great-granddaughter of Samuel Sewall, is the author of two previous critically acclaimed books: American Jezebel, a biography of her ancestor Anne Hutchinson, and Seized, a narrative portrait of temporal lobe epilepsy.

American jezebel by eve laplante